1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to apparatus and methods for controlling operation of electric motors, and more particularly to determining motor inertia.
2. Description of the Related Art
Some industrial electric motors are operated by a motor drive which responds to a velocity command by applying electricity to the motor in a manner that causes the motor to operate at the commanded velocity. In a typical motor drive, the velocity command is compared to a measurement of the actual velocity of the motor to produce a commanded torque indicating how the motor's operation needs to change in order to achieve the commanded velocity. For example, to accelerate the motor a positive commanded torque is produced, whereas a negative commanded torque is required to decelerate the motor.
The amount of torque that is required to produce a given change in velocity is a function of the inertia of the motor and the mechanical apparatus being driven. The inertia in a typical industrial installation is determined and programmed into the motor drive upon commissioning the motor. Thus it is desirable to provide a mechanism for accurately estimating that inertia.
The traditional process for estimating the motor system inertia involves operating the motor through a linear acceleration/deceleration profile. If the velocity changes at a constant rate, the motor torque is constant during both acceleration and deceleration and it is relatively straight forward to calculate the inertia. This is the case with drive systems that have regenerative capabilities, i.e. where the electric current induced in the stator coils during deceleration is able to flow unrestricted back into the DC supply bus for the motor drive. However, many present day motor drives incorporate a bus regulator which limits the voltage on the DC supply bus and thus restricts the regenerative capability. As a consequence, the deceleration is non-linear which can adversely affect traditional inertia estimating techniques.
Therefore, a different method for estimating the inertia is needed, one that does not require a linear acceleration/deceleration profile.